I woke up on my father’s back

 Seeing lightning bugs flying around tombstones

 “Where are we, Baba?”

 “We are in a graveyard.

 Do you see lightning bugs shine our way home?”

 “Are we lost, Baba?” I almost cried

 “No, this is the short-cut” my father laughed

 “All we need to do is following lightning bugs”

 Baba began telling ghost stories to keep me awake

 I held on to his neck and never let go

 I remember this story as if just happened yesterday. My father then a high school principal Ming Qi Yang, often walked overnight from where he taught school to where my mother taught school in rural Hunan, China. The distances were too far for me to stay awake on piggyback ride. He used to walk from darkness until break of dawn. In this occasion, we were indeed lost, totally lost in the middle of a scary graveyard. However, my father used humor and stories successfully turned a horror trip into a fine memory.  Since then I fascinated about lightning bugs and tombstones, as they become metaphors in life. Thank you,Baba.Lightning bugs are also been called fireflies. They are members of a particular family of the Beetles Order. They produce flashing light from lower abdomen, yellow, green or pale red in color to attract mates or prey. They are distinguished by the unique courtshipflash pattern emitted by flying males in search of females for reproduction. In Southeast Asia, lightning bugs routinely synchronise their flashed among large group. It is an amazing phenomenon and sighting of lightning bugs blinking in unison.